Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: Bonfire Night memories and autumn surprises

Where has it gone? It was there last night, but there is no sign of it this morning. We have searched everywhere. It was full of paper to recycle. The collection lorry must have been, but our blue bag has gone. We have looked sneakily in other people’s gardens, but it is not there. We have looked carefully at a blue bag across the road, but that was not it. The gales must have taken it eastwards, blown up like a balloon over the hills. What do we do now?

Well, I went on the council’s website and searched for refuse collection and, as if by magic, there was a form to fill in if you want a new bag. I wrote that it must have blown away in the wind and now I am waiting, with fingers crossed, to see if a new one is delivered.

I remember waiting for Bonfire Night when I was a little girl. It could not come soon enough. There was such an air of excitement in the early dark nights. I had been collecting dead leaves for weeks and filling old hessian sacks with them. I always made a Guy with two sacks full of leaves, the smaller one for the head. My dad’s old trousers were stuffed with leaves. All his clothes were old, so it did not really matter which we chose!

Now is the time when the farmers cut the hedges. You could see them last month on the country roads. We were no exception when I was small, except we did not flail the cuttings. We collected them on a trailer and they were taken to our paddock to build a bonfire for the big night. You could buy fireworks at our local sweet shop and I kept them in bed with me, smelling their gunpowder excitement all night. What unbelievable explosions would be released, with all that pent-up energy!

But our autumn trees seem reluctant to release their leaves. All summer, our struggling newly planted trees have been threatening to give up the ghost. Their leaves wrinkled and drooped but held on. Now they have had a sudden revival. Perhaps it is the late, welcome rain or the still-warm soil. Whatever it is, autumn here seems to be dragging its feet.

The sun is behaving normally for November, though. I went for my usual short walk up the path yesterday and, before I reached the main road, it was almost dark. It is not just that I am slow, like the leaves; it is that the sun is setting early and it has caught me out. Sunset now is about 4.30pm. I had better set off earlier.